Oeceoclades calcarata

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Holy squat, people! I finally got this plant to spike!!! It took many years just for this to happen, and I'm glad I stuck with this oddball.

This is one of the rarer Oeceoclades species. It comes from Madagascar. This orchid is 100%, without a doubt, a lithophytic orchid. It is not a true terrestrial. The roots will grow between the crevices of rocks with some organic material trapped in it. Whether those rocks are granitic or limestone in nature, I have no idea, but I'm willing to bet it's limestone, (because I know Madagascar has limestone deposits and also the species name "calcarata" implies calcium).

It has proven to be one of the toughest orchids I own. Oeceoclades calcarata has continued to grow for probably around the order of 8 - 10 years in spite of the periodic neglect I've imposed on it.

I got it as a 2 or 3 backbulb division, (I forgot exactly how many bulbs it was when I got it, but I knew it wasn't 1 or more than 3). Now it has a total of 12 bulbs.

This is an incredibly temperature tolerant orchid that can handle 36 F - 110 F temperatures.

I had to blast this mofo with some light. The light is still filtered, (I grow it under a dwarf lemon tree), but it is strong enough to burn some leaves on a Vanda.

Although it is nice to look at even when out of bloom, I desperately wanted this orchid to throw out some flowers. And now, there might just be some flowers to see.

As soon as my camera battery is charged up, I'll see if the photo can be posted, otherwise I'll take another photo tomorrow morning.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Here's the photo:

[WhiteRabbit]

WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TOMMYMIAMI]

Awesome I wanna see this one open!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Update: The spike has grown to be about 4 ft tall and has several buds on it.

One of the flowers have opened, and will be in full bloom by tomorrow.

It is definitely a joy to see this one bloom after growing for some years.

Very special orchid this is.

Will post pics soon.

[theroc1217]

Congratulations! I have several different Oeceoclades, and It looks like it will be several years until they bloom, though one does have a dried up spike. I will have to get some tips from you!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I didn't take a photo of the entire spike today. The spike is pretty tall, and I didn't want to mess with the orchid this late during the day, after being tired from work for fear of breaking the spike or ripping buds off the spike.

Here's a photo of a flower on the spike. This particular blossom was the easiest to take a photo of without having to rearrange things.

This photo doesn't really capture the magenta on the ridges of the lip well. There is a more pronounced shade of magenta on the ridges.

I'm also not sure what happened to the lip, but it doesn't seem to be unfurled correctly. Perhaps a couple more days, and the flower's lip might develop right.

It is definitely an impressive orchid. The flowers are about 1 inch tall.

[RosieC]